If 90 MLAs from Sena-BJP join him, he will be in a position to form the government. Uddhav Thackeray was also convinced.
The leaders of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance on Thursday were in a dilemma over the support they may have to extend to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, if he breaks away from the party.
Though, both the parties’ leaders said on record that they have no intention of supporting Pawar, they admitted, in private, that they could think over it.
The political circles are in a flutter over Pawar’s possible tie-up with the Sena-BJP to fulfil his ambition of becoming chief minister. The Sena and BJP leaders did not deny that a meeting happened between Ajit Pawar and BJP leader Gopinath Munde, but asserted that they did not discuss the possibility of Pawar becoming the CM.
A source from BJP said that Pawar called on Munde during his short visit to New Delhi on Monday. “Our leaders thought Pawar may break away from NCP after he was denied the post of legislative party leader. They calculated that Pawar had the support of 32 NCP MLAs and 18 independents. If 90 MLAs from Sena-BJP join him, he will be in a position to form the government. The Sena executive chief Uddhav Thackeray too, was convinced to support Pawar,” he said.
“Even if we are thinking on supporting him, it is not mandatory to inform the media. No one can predict what will happen tomorrow,” he added. Senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi said that all options were open. “If he breaks away from the party or if they come to us, we can think over about supporting them,” he said.
However, Sena believes that the speculation could be helpful for the opposition. A Sena leader indicated that stories of their good relations with Ajit Pawar could destabilise the Congress-NCP government. “We have good relations with Ajit Pawar. Even if he continues to remain in the NCP, the possibility of his revolt cannot be ruled out. One thing is sure, we have got a strong point to threaten the Congress-NCP government,” a Sena leader said.
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